Cheap Chinese green technology imports causing concerns for European industry transformation
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The growing volumes of cheap green technologies coming out of China are leading to worries that solar panels, electric cars, batteries and other products sold below their production price are undermining Europe鈥檚 industry transformation plans, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper . China, the world鈥檚 largest exporter, boasts production capacities for solar PV that could cover global demand two and a half times over per year; has e-car production capacities large enough to sell up to 20 million units abroad; and owns two thirds of global wind turbine production capacity, the article says. This allows the country to export technologies at prices well below competitors from Europe, as was recently lamented by solar PV manufacturer Meyer Burger, when announcing the closure of its German production site.
鈥淐hina is supporting companies irrespective of its domestic demand for these products. If every country does this, we鈥檒l have a problem,鈥� economist J眉rgen Matthes from research institute IW told the newspaper. However, China鈥檚 government earlier this month said it regarded green technologies as the . Beyond state support, China鈥檚 low labour and energy costs as well as a political system that allows fast decision making and long-term security are other factors that make its products competitive. This in turn allowed customers in Europe, the U.S. and other parts of the world to decarbonise and electrify their economies at low costs, which is exemplified by the fact that installers of solar panels in Germany are against trade barriers favoured by producers like Meyer Burger, the article says.
While countries including the U.S., Mexico or Turkey have started to shield their economies from Chinese competition, the EU鈥檚 Net Zero Industry Act so far uses tariffs and subsidies sparingly and its CBAM mechanism for climate tariffs could turn out to be insufficient, Niels Graham of U.S. think tank Atlantic Council said. A coordinated response by the G7 group of influential western-style economies could be needed to meaningfully protect domestic production capacities for future technologies, he argued.
